A few weeks ago, the officials of Bi-Courtney said that their company, the concessionaire of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway,would hit the road to ameliorate the suffering of commuters and other road users plying the expressway. And true to their words, they did hit the road; but not without some setbacks created by some owners of property encroaching on the perimeter of the road. In effect, Lagos Ogun and Oyo State governments should be providing adequate assistance to Bi-Courtney where necessary. Ogun State , which has the largest portion of the expressway, has not helped matters in any way. Nigerians have had to read on the pages of a couple of newspapers conflicting stories about the highly critical activities of Ogun State government. I was staggered when I read in the papers that the Governor of Ogun State had gone to the old site of Reynolds Construction Company Nigeria Limited (RCC) to evacuate Bi-Courtney from the moribund quarry and consequently ordered his accompanied policemen to destroy some of the containers of asphalt belonging to the road concessionaire. Honestly, Bi-Courtney or any other company for that matter, which has been given a marching order by the federal government to fix the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, deserves our maximum cooperation; given the untold stress commuters undergo everyday, man-hour loss and the frequent loss of lives caused by this bad road and trailers. For once, I was ashamed that I hail from Ogun State , one of the most sophisticated states in the South-West; in deed, in the country as a whole. Ogun State , no doubt, has produced great Nigerians both nationally and internationally; and to that extent, it would be expected that whoever is representing the state as its leader ought to be well apprised of what real governance with human face is all about. This is the state that gave birth to political legends like Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Sir Herbert Macaulay, the first Nigerian to found a political party. This is the state where professionals like Dr. Olukoye and Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti, Professor Wole Soyinka, Dr. Tai Solarin and the rest came from. This is the state that has produced two heads of state ' in the persons of Chiefs Olusegun Obasanjo and Ernest Shonekan. What then could have gone wrong that the order of the day in the political space of Ogun State is now a deviance' In my opinion, Ogun state is increasingly becoming k-legged, otherwise, how does one reckon with a state government that all it has done since its inauguration is to literally cut down blossoming trees planted by its predecessors and not endeavour to plant one. The first of its kind was the demolition of the Water Parks at the prestigious Gulf Course in Abeokuta . And then the insensitive renaming of the Ijebu-Ode Gateway International Stadium from Mike Adenuga Stadium to Dipo Dina Stadium, is like putting the cart the before the horse. That couldn't have been the first thing first in a state that had yearned for a change; even though they were not sure of the kind of change they wanted. Mike Adenuga Jnr. is undoubtedly one of the living illustrious sons of Ogun State that is doing very well for sports both in Nigeria and Africa . Economically, no doubt, the Glo man's goodwill in sports would be attract fortunes to Ogun State and ultimately generate substantial revenue for the state. What about the planned demolition of Workers Estate at Laderin in Abeokuta that is to commence in a few days' time' Laderin Workers Estate is the first workers estate in Nigeria and it has now become a model for other states. Such a lofty project should be encouraged; as it has helped poor civil servants to own their houses without much stress. Housing is very crucial in this country and any government that professes to be people-friendly should build more houses for its citizens and not demolish the ones that had been built. Alhaji Lateef Jakande's low-cost houses are still standing everywhere in Lagos and the scheme has become a model for subsequent political administrations in Lagos . What then could be the rationale behind this demolition here and there; making the same people that voted you into power ceaselessly cry' Just like in Osun State , where majority of the people kept mute throughout the first 8 months of Governor Rauf Aregbesola's sole administration ' state government without commissioners, very few Ogun state people have been raising objection to this k-legged style of administration in Gateway state. Methinks until an accused has been convicted in the court of law that such could be called a convict. This was not so when the current leadership of the Gateway state openly called a Permanent Secretary a thief without any evidence. That I think was rather uncouth! In other countries where governance is all about the people, unless such a governor quickly and penitently tenders his or her unreserved apology, he or she might be courting impeachment. But in our clime, impunity is the order of the day. It is only in Nigeria that a former Speaker of the Parliament, who had been indicted for financial impropriety, would dream of suing the government for indicting him over what he himself had accented to and apologized for on the floor of the House. In our clime, presidents, governors chairmen of Local Governments; even Special Advisers have auras of 'the almighty' that cannot be challenged. Otherwise, how could a Special Adviser to a governor ever think of abusing a Permanent Secretary, not to talk of slapping such a very senior civil servant' In a state where public administration is at its best, such a Special Adviser would have been summarily dismissed. Has it not become a recurrent situation in the House where our parliamentarians have turned the House to a pugilist court' In other countries like the United States of America , their government celebrates the first 100 days in office by giving account of their stewardship. But here in Nigeria , it is always celebrated amidst pomp and pageantry without any meaningful project in sight. Nigerians have a duty to make this project called Nigeria work. Sitting on the fence and allowing those who have no business in government houses rule the affair of Nigerians is great disservice to this nation. This k-leg must be made straight.
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